WHO/WHEN:
Written by Allie Reynolds, published by Putnam, 2022
WHY:
This was another Christmas gift book- I typically always put a whole list together and get a few and it’s one of the best presents you can get!
WHAT:
Kenna travels to Australia to rescue her friend Mikka from a mystery marriage; both girls are surfers, or were, up until Kenna’s boyfriend died surfing. Once Kenna meets up with Mikka and her new group of friends on a secluded beach known only to them, more and more mysteries are revealed and what is really going on with her friend.
My Thoughts:
I am about as unfamiliar with the surfing world as 90’s hip hop sensations Kriss Kross were with pants that fit (even I’m embarrassed at that reference) so this was all new ground for me to read. And I actually enjoyed all the surf talk, educating the audience on times to surf, etiquette of surfing and the cutthroat way surfers can behave towards each other. The Swell takes that sentiment to another level. This group has cornered themselves off into a place no one else is allowed to enter…or if you do, leave alive. Seriously. Our main character, Kenna, has the best intentions, if not actually warranted from her friend Mikka- someone who was the opposite of Kenna- reserved, careful, scared even. Now, she’s got tattoos (is a moth on the wrist the new butterfly on the small of the back?), surfing like a madwoman and even seems indifferent to people dying around her.
The book is slow moving, for sure, but at some point, really nothing is happening. Kenna starts a crush on a severely complicated man named Clemente who’s lost not only a wife, but a girlfriend to this island; the 80’s Bills have a better track record of winning. There are various other characters, maybe none more interesting than head surfer/cult leader Sky, a no-nonsense self-made fear psychologist even Linda Hamilton would shirk from. She’s extremely intense even though she invites Kenna to the group, and all the other males are afraid of her. It’s a good reveal when you find out her back story. But the book never really pays off, in my mind.
There’s an emotion problem in this book though- strange events happen or hidden truths are revealed, then everyone goes back to what they are doing; Kenna is just a past surf instructor, but she digs for clues like she’s a private investigator hired to bring Mikka back. It’s hard to understand a lot of the characters motivations; all they seem to want to do is stay homeless on an island, surf to their heart’s content and follow Sky’s crazy commands which will maybe get them killed. It’s not just her; it’s the beach seems to have this almost trance-like pull to them and maybe it’s just my naivety, but is finding an empty beach that much of a rare commodity among surfers you’d basically give up your normal existence to stay there and surf? It just didn’t jive to me. Once things started going downhill, people were ready to leave, if they could.
Then, you have the big reveal: well, you would have if it hadn’t been strangely revealed many chapters beforehand in a quick side note from the perpetrator’s perspective. Once that happens, all other red herrings don’t mean much as you get towards the end. You do end up liking Kenna, the main character, as she portrays a lot of hero characteristics: not giving up on people, trying to tell the truth, with some basic human flaws (being attracted to her friend’s fiancée) but I’m not sure she or Mikka were better off once this book winds to its conclusion; I know I wasn’t. The book didn’t keep my interest past the first 50 pages of setup and the payoff wasn’t worth cashing. Would not recommend.
bobombblast 